PSCI 311 The Personal and the Political in Practice: Gender, Sexuality and Political Power in America (Not offered 1999-2000)
Political scientists have long debated over whether the American political system is open to including previously disadvantaged groups as full participants and thereby adding their problems and issues as central concerns for the political community as a whole. This course examines two such groups-women, and lesbians and gay men-whose personal concerns and grievances were defined away as being outside of politics for many years. Yet, though women were disenfranchised until the early-twentieth century and continue to be vastly outnumbered by men in governmental hierarchies, and despite the general invisibility of, continued discrimination against, and public ambivalence toward lesbians and gay men, both groups have been successful in organizing politically, and their issues and concerns have become increasingly prominent on the political agenda. We begin by studying women: whether women as a group do have shared grievances and perspectives, and whether those differ from those of men; why there are fewer women as one goes up in the governmental hierarchy and the implications for women as candidates and in office. We then will examine women, and lesbians and gay men, in tandem: the evolution of the women's movement and of the lesbian and gay movement along with the cultural and political battles over so-called "women's issues" as well as gay rights; the politics of feminism and anti-feminism for women, and the politics of sexual identity among lesbians and gay men; and the ways our understanding of the politics of gender and sexuality shifts once we incorporate class and race. Throughout, our preoccupation will be the prospects and pitfalls of linking the personal and the political in the American political system. Requirements: active participation in class discussion; major term paper based on original research; presentation to class of findings; and self-scheduled final exam. Prerequisite: a previous course in American politics, or permission of the instructor. American Politics Subfield